We did it!

Horay we sailed around the world. The journey took 3 years and had both some fantastic ups and terrifying downs.

Since my last post from Indonesia about 8 months ago we have sailed across the Indian ocean, Red sea, Mediterranean and back to Sweden again. The best part might have been a deserted bay just on the Sudanese border with Egypt with clear water and lost of fish. The worst part might have been Egypt with lovely people but a very hostile government who does everything to make life hard for sailors. Don't sail in Egypt! 

Since a couple of weeks back we live in our new home on Hälsö, just outside Gothenburg, Sweden. The kids go to a real school for the first time and my wife works as a geologist. Myself I'm a stay at home dad but sooner or later I have to go back to work again as a Salesforce.com IT guy.

Anyway lets look at some pics

2024 stared in Thailand for us. Mmm Satay Jelly Fish, every one loves Thai snacks

We explored the caves around Phuket. The rick is to wait for the guided tours to leave and then explore on your own. 

Caves caves caves

And more caves. 

Towards the end of January we left Thailand for Sri Lanka. On the way I caught this chunky Barracuda. Rule number one is to NEVER EAT THE BARRACUDA, however in South east Asia there is very little ciguatera so the Barracuda is generally safe eat and tastes great. We barbecue it with peanut butter or do a fish and chips.

If you don't know what Ciguatera is and plan to sail in the Caribbean you might be in for an unpleasant surprise. Might be a good idea to google a bit...

Without any major issues we arrived in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. There not not a lot to do here but the town has some good markets and fantastic temples. I mean who doesn't feel closer to God next to this gigantic status . Note the deer on the statues Left hand.

Elephant riding with no seat belt. Safety rules are for rich countries.

After Sri Lanka we left for India and probably the worst crossing in our life. Some naive sailors have been giving the fishing boats they meet at sea gifts of beer and cigarettes and now we were constantly harassed by very aggressive fishing boats demanding beer and cigarettes and threatening to crash into us. Those considerate sailors before us created a very stressful situation for the boats behind them. Naturally we didn't give those lovely, friendly fishermen anything. On top of this the fishing boats put out a LOT of floating nets during the night that were poorly lit if at all. Sailing along the Sri Lankan coast at night is not recommend and something I never want to experience again. On to of this Molly fell and got a bad gash in her forehead. Blood everywhere and no doctor for days. We patched it up with Wound Strips and it healed nicely. After a week we arrived in Kochi, India where people were super friendly, the food was unbelievably spicy and the incompetents level of the authorities was at a clown level.

In India we had to make a tough decision. Around new year the Houti rebel in Yemen had started to shoot at ships in the read sea making it perhaps not the best place to sail with your kids. Most sailors opted to sail back to Europe by South Africa instead but that wasn't an option for us since it adds a whole year to the journey and we were out of money. Leaving or selling the boat in India wasn't really possible. So we had to make a chose

1. Risk the safety of my family

2. Fly back to Sweden, about the circumnavigation and loose the boat.

We delayed making a decision and long as possible to give the Houti Rebels a chance either stop or escalate the situation. The did neither but happily continued to shoot at merchant shipping. However they never attacked small boat specifically never sailing vessels so we decided to risk it. Meanwhile the Somali pirates awoke after a long slumber and started to become active again. Needless to say the crossing from India to Djibouti (a French colony situated just at the south entrance to the read sea) was stressful. I spent most nights in the cockpit hugging my machete and trying to not think about pirates with machine guns. After some more horrible times in Djibouti we left for Sudan.

Ahh Sawakin in Sudan, the pearl of the red sea. Sudan has had an on and of civil war since basically forever and the town Sawakin was probably one of the worst places I seen. Basically a pile of ruins on top of a garbage dump. The people was some of the nicest and most honest we have met but how they suffer.

After a couple of months was finally plopped out in the Mediterranean from the Suez canal. We and our friends had many more unfortunate adventure in this problematic region. In short I would STRONGLY recommend sailors to avoid the red sea, sail by South Africa instead. 

The beautiful Algarve coast in Portugal

The mandatory white cliffs of Dover. Almost home again.

Finally home! On Agust 16 2024 we moored outide our new home in Sweden

Our hose, now we are landcrabs living a normal life but the 3 years we spent together will forever be cherished by us. We are glad and proud to have completed the challenge of a circumnavigation. 

THE END